DAYS 244-250 – 16-22 November 2020

I’m starting this week with a bit of Greek mythology. Anyone who knows about the story of Sisyphus will understand when I say this week has very much been about rolling a stone up a hill in a seemingly never ending cycle. And of course despite all the hard work, I feel as if I have achieved absolutely nothing!

But then on reflection, it turns out that we have managed to celebrate a birthday, continue putting up the Christmas decorations, E has moved up a level on her reading, and M is winning at nursery! What more am I really expecting for a week in 2020? Today also sees us hit the 250th day since I started my diary. Why does time fly when you’re having fun?! Anyway, on with this week’s top 5:

1. The week started with the marking of a very special day – Steph’s birthday. Now, many of us have had to endure a birthday during lockdown this year, and will understand how difficult it can be to make your special day…well…special! We did try our best, as Daddy and E set about making a lemon drizzle cake (gorgeous so clearly beginner’s luck!) and a huge number of parcels arrived from the Amazon delivery driver, strangely all of which seemed to require some form of ID, which I later found out guaranteed that each and every parcel contained some form of gin-based product. Not only did I manage to sort out the day off work, but also surprised Steph with a delivered afternoon tea, which was very scrumptious indeed! We had some party food on the evening with the kids, sang happy birthday and generally made sure that the day was marked in some way. Granted, it may not have been a trip to New York, but such things are so 2019!

2. I’ve realised this week just how astute children can be, no matter how young. I’ve also realised that somehow we have ended up with two pretty emotionally mature kids who show a lot of care of kindness to others. They seem to realise when someone else is feeling low, and are generous with their hugs and smiles! M has developed a real attachment to E’s favourite doll, Annabelle, and now won’t sleep without her. This was causing conflict so we had little option but to purchase Alexander (Annabelle’s brother) who arrived yesterday and he already absolutely adores! It seems to be the only toy he doesn’t throw around and loves giving him his bottle. He has also started giving a lot of cuddles to his Mammy and at one point was snuggled in with her and his sister whilst I was all alone on the other couch. “Don’t worry Daddy,” said E “you can just cuddle yourself.” I’m just hoping it’s my turn next week!

3. On Tuesday Steph and M went for a little walk after dropping E off at school. After the walk they popped to the shop to pick up a couple of things (essential items of course). M ended up with his own bag to carry, inside was two magazines, a fruit shoot and a large chocolate bar. He was so pleased to have his very own bag to carry and wouldn’t let Steph help, even when it was dragging along the floor! While walking back to the car Steph heard a clunk; the fruit shoot had fallen out of the bottom of the bag. Steph picked it up and popped it into her bag, checked M’s bag and noticed there was a small hole so thought nothing about it and just continued. They continued along to the car, with M still refusing to give up his very own bag. Once they got back to the car Steph checked the bag again and low and behold the chocolate bar was gone! The tears and tantrum when this was discovered seemed a bit extreme to me, but I eventually managed to calm her down!

4. Now this weekend has been another chance for Steph to provide a list of chores, although for a change only one thing featured on the list – tidying out the garage! I genuinely did try my best, and even managed a tip run which was pretty horrific, given how long the queue is to actually get into the tip. One benefit however was finding certain long forgotten boxes in the back corner, one of which contained her cocktail fountain! It didn’t take long to agree that it needed a run out, and Saturday night therefore ended up being a rather raucous affair including me parading around in my kilt and sporran on a zoom call. Oops! At one very strange point Steph shoved her fingers under my nose and said those immortal words, “sniff my fingers!” I turned my nose up in disgust, of course, but unfortunately did not realise that she had just put out the new reed diffuser she received for her birthday, and was asking my genuine opinion on the fragrance. I really do need to trust her a little more than I trust myself!